URA announced today that typically the minimum stay duration regarding three months will proceed to apply for any kind of accommodation in private home properties. This decision is usually taken after extensive services with diverse groups involving stakeholders on the suggested regulatory framework for the particular use of private non commercial properties for short-term holiday accommodation (STA).

Based on some sort of national survey commissioned by simply URA, the majority regarding Singaporeans supported the offered regulatory framework for STA. But several home-sharing program operators said that the particular proposed rules were excessively restrictive and wanted the lighter touch approach.

Along with all this impasse, URA will not proceed along with the proposed regulations at this point. Instead, it will proceed to monitor the condition, as well as wider developments on the STA scene. URA remains wide open to reviewing the setting in future, if and even when platform operators illustrate that they are well prepared to stick to the corporate framework. Meanwhile, the work with of private residential attributes for short-term accommodation associated with lower than three consecutive several weeks remains illegal.

To far better understand the complex problem of STA, URA features been consulting key stakeholders extensively since 2015. For instance , members of the general public, Management Corporations (MCSTs) and even Managing Agents (MAs) associated with condominiums, neighbourhood committees, motel and serviced apartment business players, as well while home-sharing platform operators.

Inside April 2018, URA plus relevant agencies formulated some sort of regulatory framework to help STA in private home properties, while safeguarding the particular safety, privacy and protection of homes, and typically the residential character of localized communities. Please refer to be able to the Annex [PDF, 235kb] for the summary of these polices.

URA also commissioned the national survey in the particular second half of 2018, consisting of face-to-face interview with more than a new thousand private homeowners. The particular majority of the participants felt that STA might cause a range involving negative externalities:

68% suggested that STA would increase security concerns inside their house
67% indicated that STA would result in a loss in privacy for residents
64% indicated that short-term residents might misbehave and lead to disturbances like noise nuisances
56% indicated that immediate occupants might damage typical facilities
55% indicated of which STA could pose the risk of fire inside the house
In range with the above issues, an important majority of participants supported the principles set out there in the proposed regulating framework. For example,

69% supported the proposed a majority consent threshold for STA being allowed in the strata-titled enhancement
69% recognized the 90-day cap in short-term stays per product within a yr
80% pointed out that home-sharing platform providers should be licenced in addition to regulated by the authorities
While there was acknowledgement from the potential upsides throughout supplementing income through immediate lets, only 7% involving respondents expressed their objective to leave out their particular homes or investment attributes if STA may become allowed in the long term.

Key stakeholders not supporting of proposed rules

When the majority of Singaporeans supported the proposed regulations, there were several key point stakeholders who expressed concerns.

The MCSTs expressed problems together with the greater responsibilities put on them and their very own ability to administer the particular controls within their properties. This is particularly thus in developments where additional proprietors may want further measures to be found in place to further reduce the impact of transitive occupants who live inside their midst and talk about the common facilities, this kind of as the gym or even children’s pool.

Several platform providers who have been engaged said that will they could not assistance the proposed regulatory construction. In particular, they performed not support the suggested threshold for owners’ agree, along with the cap on allowable nights for short-term lodging. Its understandable that the particular platform operators would always be driven by their industrial imperatives. But it is usually not tenable for URA to allow a much more peaceful regulatory framework it does not handle the concerns raised simply by Singaporeans.

Conclusion

In line with the wholeness of responses from most stakeholders to the offered framework, URA has chose to maintain the status quo at this time. URA will continue to put in force the existing requirement for some sort of minimum stay life very long three months in personal homes.

We remain available to the potential of implementing a new framework that can accommodate STA in the future, anytime all stakeholders are well prepared to fully commit to be able to regulations that strive to guarantee that such activities perform not adversely affect our own living environment.